Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had their first combined public engagement on Thursday, displaying an enthusiastic show of togetherness since Harris succeeded the president as the Democratic nominee in November.
Chants of “thank you Joe!” rang out from the audience at a community college in Maryland, near Washington.
Biden was praised for negotiating a significant reduction in drug prices for elderly on social welfare programs.
But the greatest star was Biden’s vice president, who has rallied the Democratic Party and soared ahead of Republican Donald Trump in the polls since her unexpected entry into the campaign.
“She can make one hell of a president,” Biden said of Harris.
The combined appearance occurred a few hours before Trump was scheduled to attend a press conference at his golf club in New Jersey.
The real estate magnate and scandal-plagued former president has struggled to refocus his campaign after Biden pulled out on July 21, amid Democratic concerns that he lacked the stamina at age 81 to complete the job.
Until then, Trump was slowly advancing in the polls, thanks in large part to his narrative that Biden was losing his mental acuity — a charge that gained traction after the president botched a televised presidential debate.
Now, Harris, 59, has an increasing lead over Trump, 78.
And Biden, nearing the end of his four-year term, appears reenergized, taking on the role of mentor passing the baton to his protégé.
In his speech, Biden stated that the Democrats’ strategy was to “beat the hell out of” Republican opponents, and he elicited amusement by claiming not to remember Trump’s name — “Donald Dump or Donald whatever.”
Fight to lower prices
Harris, set to be crowned as Democratic nominee at the party convention in Chicago next week, made a display of vice presidential deference, delivering only short remarks and stressing that it has been her honor to serve under the “most extraordinary human being.”
“There’s a lot of love in this room for our president,” she said to cheers.
The drug prices deal will reduce costs for retirees on 10 key medicines, including treatments for diabetes, heart failure and blood clots.
The scope and timing of the deal — which the White House says will save older Americans $1.5 billion and the Medicare federal health insurance scheme $6 billion in the first year — is a boost for Harris in an election where cost of living is a major issue.
In a statement, Harris called the negotiations with pharmaceutical companies “historic” and “life changing.”
Americans face the highest prescription drug prices in the world, leaving many people to pay partly out of their own pocket, despite already exorbitant insurance premiums.
On Friday, Harris will for the first time lay out details of her economic platform.
The United States’ first female, Black and South Asian vice president is expected largely to stick to Biden’s economic agenda, while trying to differentiate herself, avoiding voter wrath over the post-Covid pandemic surge in inflation.
Axios reported Wednesday that Harris wants to “break with Biden on issues on which he’s unpopular,” with rising prices being top of the list.
While Trump has long polled more strongly on the economy, a recent poll from the Financial Times and University of Michigan found voters trust Harris more on the issue, by 42 to 41 percent.
Trump, who survived an assassination attempt on July 13, is now the oldest presidential nominee in US history.
He did not say what would be the topic of his press conference in New Jersey. In a speech on Wednesday, he veered from prepared remarks about the economy to repeated personal insults against “crazy person” Harris, “stupid” Biden and calling Harris’s running mate Tim Walz a “clown.”